Soccer fans worldwide know the name of this Turin-based Serie A Coppa Italia professional soccer team, and they know the team's championship reputation.

And while fans know about the Juventus FC men's team, they may not know there's a women's Juventus team as well.

Even less than that know about the Juventus team in Edmonton, Alberta. This soccer club is a group of 15-16-year-olds who have been beating older teams and turning some heads in the process.

Edmonton Juventus U16 defeated Montana Rush U19 1-0 Sunday in the championship of the Montana Rush tournament at the Siebel Soccer Fields. Goalkeeper Jaylynn Hayter kept a clean sheet for the Canadian girls, while Abbie Sheflo booted the winning goal midway through the second half, taking a pass and depositing it past Rush keeper Jorgie Hawthorne in the upper far corner of the net.

"This is a girls' team we've been building for eight seasons," Juventus head coach Chris Buchanan said. "It's built on speed, and fun.

"They watch the Juventus games on TV. We managed to come together and build this really strong club, and they just keep getting better all the time."

It should be known that this group of young ladies are in no way a feeder club for the more famous team in Italy.

"No, this is not a feeder team," Buchanan said with a laugh. "Almost every girl on this team is here because their goal is to play college soccer somewhere in North America.

"We do a lot of activities with college coaches and college teams, and every opportunity they get to showcase themselves, that's when they come to tournaments. There's 10 college coaches here. Hopefully, they'll get contacted by some of them. The exposure is great for our girls. The more college coaches get to see them, the greater the chances they can go to school and play soccer at the same time."

"We are younger than all of these teams out here," Hayter said after pitching a shutout at the Rush. "I was really surprised (with the final outcome). We scored, and it was like 'Oh my God, we can't get scored on.' I was so scared."

Hayter is also aware that women's soccer — and women's sports in general — is still battling for recognition with their male counterparts.

"It's not really something people like to watch," she added. "Women are just getting started playing sports and being recognized in sports, so being able to have this big name on our jerseys, it's pretty amazing to be recognized and kind of connected with the men's side of it, and the professional side."

For Sheflo, the center midfielder has collegiate soccer on her mind.

"I really do. That's where I want to be when I get older," Sheflo confirmed. "I love soccer. I love the game."

Lindsay Smith is a technical director for the Rush, and was quite impressed with the quality of teams in the tournament.

"This a strong age group for us, these girls born in (or after) 1999," said Smith, a former Great Falls High soccer coach. "We had a great team come from Northern Idaho, and then (Juventus).

"That's a great bracket for our tournament."

Smith said state championship soccer is nothing new to Rush soccer and the players.

"They've won a couple over their years," she added. "These are (Great Falls High and C.M. Russell) players combined. You've got some of the top girls from both schools combining to make a pretty powerful team. We have some great players in the area."

Tribune Sports Writer Lee Vernoy's column about the faces and places of the area sports scene can be found in this spot most Mondays. Email him at lvernoy@greatfallstribune.com, or call him at (406) 791-6569.